Earring



June 13, 1950 J. MOCANN 2,511,170

EARRING Filed Nov. 14. 1946 INVENTOR Judd/z McC'ann Patented June 13, 1950 EARRING Judith McCann, New York, N. Y.

Application November 14, 1946, Serial No. 709,731

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a combination support and mounting for ear decorations which are commonly termed earrings, and it is in the nature of an improvement on the invention disclosed in my United States Letters Patent 2,414,382, dated January 14, 1947, which was co-pending with the instant application, as it includes the features therein disclosed and, additionally, other features.

The invention is particularly directed to a combined support and mounting for an ear decoration that is carried adjacent the lobe of the pinna of the ear. In the past before my said invention disclosed in said application, earring supports and mountings were, at times, of the form that required the piercing of the ear lobe to accommodate an element that was inserted through the resultant hole. At other times the support and mounting was held in place on the unpierced lobe of the ear by clamping the lobe between two relatively adjustable clamping parts which, when adjusted, exerted pressure on the ear lobe. In other instances the clamping action was exerted on the inside and outside of the cartilage at the lower or lowermost portion of the concha by relatively adjustable clamping elements.

All of these forms sought to maintain the earring securely in position on the ear by clamping action in one form or another. But the clamping action, by pressure exerted by relatively adjustable parts on an unpierced ear lobe became, in use, ineffective because of the loosening of the clamping parts either accidentally or by deliberate action of the wearer to lessen the uncomfortable effect, it being well known that continuously applied pressure on certain parts of the human body, and on certain parts of the ear in particular, even though slight, produce a discomfort and, in instances, objectionable nervous reaction in the wearer.

Moreover in mountings and supports of the character to which I have above referred, it was, from a practical point of view, quite impossible to adjust the same to ear lobes of different sizes and contours so that the decoration would be properly placed in respect of the lobe and the earring properly held in place on the pinna during use.

The invention disclosed in my aforesaid application, operating upon a difierent principle from that of the prior'art, overcame many of the above shortcomings of the prior practical art and the invention disclosed in this application overcomes additional shortcomings of said prior practical art and adds improvements to my prior invention to which reference has heretofore been made.

An object of the present invention is to provide an earring support and mounting which will be maintained on the ear without any appreciable or objectionable pressure, regardless of the changes or rapidity of changes of the position of the head of the wearer and regardless of the form of the particular ear with which it is used.

It is a further object of the invention to so construct the device that the support and mounting will be maintained against downward displacement by means that simply rest against the inner faces at the tragus and antitragus portions of the pinna above and spaced from the lower or lowermost portion of the concha where the tragus and antitragus portions converge, which means will, in cooperation with additional means that extend around the lobe of the ear and behind the same, prevent the displacement of the device in any direction.

It is a further object of the invention to so construct the device that it may be adjusted to ears having lobes of different sizes and contours to properly place the ornament and adapt the device so that it may be worn and maintained in position without exerting any appreciable objectionable pressure upon the ear in any position of the head of the wearer, regardless of the size or weight of the ornament.

With these and other objects in View, which will appear as the description of the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated progresses, the invention includes the combination and arrangement of parts illustrated in the drawing, described in the specification and recited in the claims. 0

1 In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view looking at what I shall term the face of the pinna of the ear, showing my invention applied thereto;

- Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line 4- 3 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 3; and

Figure 6 is a sectional view on the line E% of Figure 3.

To illustrate not only the construction of my invention but also its application to the pinna of an ear I have shown my invention applies to the pinna of a right human ear. It is of course to be understood that the invention is applicable to both ears, and, therefore, is constructed as a right and as a left.

vThe component parts of the ear illustrated in the drawing are designated as follows: The pinna by the reference character A, the helix by B, the antihelix by C, the fossa of the antihelix by D, the concha by E, the tragus by F, the antitragus by G, the inner face of the tragus by K, the inner face of the antitragus by J the lobe by H and the junction of the lobe with the head or cheek by I. I shall term the junction of the tragus and the antitragus within the concha as the inner U of the pinna, and shall designate it by M; and I shall term the junction of the tragus and the antitragus at the outer portion of the pinna as the outer U and shall designate it by L.

The inner face K of the tragus F usually curves upwardly and forwardly from its junction with the inner U M and also curves outwardly and rearwardly toward the outer face of the ear at the tragus. The inner face J of the antitragus G curves rearwardly and upwardly and then rearwardly and downwardly forming what I shall term an ogee curve, and this face also curves inwardly, upwardly and forwardly from the face of the pinna at the antitragus.

Moreover, the inner U M is usually depressed below the point where its faces join the inner face K of the tragus F and the inner face J of the antitragus G, as indicated in the drawing at M, and the lower portion or bight of the outer U L is usually somewhat above the bottom of the inner U M as indicated in the drawing.

Of course the shape and size of cars are not constant, and many variations in both exist, but the pinna of the ear is generally as I have described it.

My invention includes a body portion I I which at its upper end is provided with a bridge portion I2 and at its lower end with a loop or retaining portion I3. Rigid with the bridge portion I2 is a saddle I4 which has a bight portion I5, a forwardly extending wing I6 and a rearwardly extending wing I1.

The body portion II is provided with a rearwardly extending loop I8 on to which the earring decoration may be secured. I have illustrated a base I9 as carried by the bight portion of the loop I8, which base is for the reception of the earring ornament and to which the ornament may be attached in any desirable manner, it of course being understood that the ornament may be attached directly to the loop I8, preferably at its bight portion.

The body portion II and the loop or retaining portion I3 are made preferably of deformable metal so that they may be bent to conform to the particular ear pinna with which they are to be used. In other words, the body portion II may be increased or decreased in length between the points 20 and 2| by spreading or contracting the ornament and adjusting loop I-8 to increase or decrease the distance between the points 22 and 23 for a purpose which will later appear. Moreover, the loop or retaining portion I 3 may be bent to conform to the back of the pinna of the ear.

The forwardly extending and rearwardly extending wings I6 and I1 respectively of the saddle I4 are likewise of deformable metal so that their divergence may be varied to be more acute or more obtuse.

In plan view, that is to say looking down on the saddle I4, a center line CLCL that extends from end to end of the saddle curves upwardly fairly abruptly as at 24 at the wing portion I6 and upwardly as at 25 and thence downwardly as at 26 at the rear wing II when looking at the side of the saddle, and the bight portion I5 of the saddle is of a generally wide U shape.

Preferably the vertical plane of the outer face of the body portion I I and its loop I8 is substantially parallel with the vertical plane of the center line CLCL.

The lower face of the saddle is convex in transverse section in both the forward and rear wings I6 and I1 respectively and the upper face of these wings may be concave for the sake of likeness.

From the center line CLCL of the saddle I4 the forward wing I6 curves upwardly and rearwardly transversely as at 21 toward the body portion I I, or otherwise stated toward the outside of the pinna, while the portion 28 curves downwardly and forwardly transversely from the center line CIr-CL, that is to say toward the inner face of the concha. On the other hand the portion 29 to one side of the center line CLCL of the rear wing I'I curves upwardly, inwardly and forwardly transversely while the portion 30 curves downwardly and rearwardly from the center line CLCL.

The loop or retaining portion I3 is joined to the body portion II by a bridge portion 3| and this loop or retaining portion I 3 extends upwardly and backwardly and thence backwardly more abruptly as at 32, and again upwardly as at 33 to conform generally to the contour of the back of the pinna of the ear.

When the form of my invention that is illustrated in the drawing is applied to the pinna of an ear the loop or retaining portion I3 is placed beneath the lobe of the pinna of the ear and slipped upwardly behind the lobe until the saddle I4 registers with the concha. When thus registered the saddle is moved into the concha of the pinna and at this time the bridge portion 3| between the loop or retaining portion I3 and the body portion I I lies within the junction I between the lobe and the head or the cheek, and the bridge portion I2 bridges the outer U L of the pinna, the distance between the bridge portion I2 and the bridge portion 3I being only slightly greater than the distance between the bottom of the outer U L and the junction I between the lobe and the head, and being substantially less than the distance between the bottom of the outer U L and the bottom of the lobe H. These relative distances will insure the retention of the device on the pinna because of the location of the loop portion I3 behind the lobe of the pinna and the pinna and because of the seating of the saddle on the inner face K of the tragus and the inner face J of the antitragus.

Even though the wearer may move her head to a position where the pinna is facing downwardly, and even though the ornament is relatively heavy this relationship above described will insure the retention of the earring in proper position on the ear.

Moreover, the transverse curves 2'I28 of the forward wing I6 of the saddle, conforming to the curvature of the inner face K of the tragus F, in conjunction with the transverse curves 29-30 of the wing I I which conforms to the inner face J of the antitragus, will tend to prevent the rocking of the saddle from side to side, or otherwise stated transversely and this is because of what might be termed reverse transverse curves at the forward and rear wings I6 and ll of the saddle.

Moreover, the longitudinal curvature of the saddle, as has been described, and the contact of the lower faces of the wings l6 and I! of the saddle with the inner face K of the tragus and the inner face J of the antitragus will tend to prevent the rocking of the saddle forwardly and rearwardly, that is to say longitudinally.

It has been pointed out that the bight portion I5 of the saddle M bridges the face of the inner U M so that it is free therefrom. Moreover, the bridge portion [2, although proximate the bottom of the outer U L does not rest thereon.

Thus the entire weight of the earring with its ornament is supported by the wings l6 and ll of the saddle [4 on the faces K and J of the tragus and antitragus respectively. The body portion H with its ornament supporting loop I8 supports the ornament at the face of the lobe of the ear and the loop or retaining portion I3 extending up behind the ear is not intended to contact the back of the ear but to be in close proximity thereto so that when the head of the wearer is moved so the pinna of the ear faces downwardly the bridge portion 3| of the loop or retaining portion l3 will engage behind and at the bottom of the lobe of the ear and prevent the bottom of the earring from swinging outwardly.

Should it be desired to var the distance between the points 20 and 2| of the body portion II, this can be done simply by increasing or decreasing the size of the loop l8 between the points 22 and 23. Moreover, both the bridge portion 3| and the loop or retaining portion l3 may be bent to accommodate it to the particular ear with which the earring is to be used, and additionally the wings I6 and I! may be bent longitudinally together or independently to increase or decrease their divergence from each other to accommodate the saddle to ear variations.

Thus the saddle forms a support for the ornament and tends to hold it in place. When the head is moved backwardly or forwardly, or from side to side, the body portion with its loop forms a support for the earring ornament and the loop IB forms a means for adjusting the length of the body portion. Moreover, the bridge portion 3! of the loop or retaining portion 13 forms a retainer to prevent the outward movement of the bottom portion of the support and of the ornament when the head of the wearer is moved to the side so that the pinna faces downwardly. Thus it will be seen that the entire weight of the earring with its ornament is supported by the wings l6 and 11 that rest upon the faces K and J respectively of the tragus F and the antitragus G and the bottom of the inner U M is relieved entirely of any supporting function.

It will be observed that while the earring support and mounting will properly support the ornament on the ear and in its proper relation to the lobe there is no pinching or clamping action exerted during the normal wearing of the device and so the wearer will be relieved of the objectionable results that flow from such a pinching or clamping action without subjecting the earring to the possibility of displacement or loss.

In this specification, when I use the term deformable in conenction with the description of various elements of the structure illustrated, I intend it to mean that the element is bendable to assume forms other than its original form and that it will remain in its new form until again bent to its original or to still another form.

I have described the particular embodiment of the invention that is illustrated in the drawings as being formed of deformable metal, but it is to be understood that this is only for illustrative purposes and that materials other than metal may be used, such materials having the necessary rigidity and ability to be deformed.

While I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of my invention it is of course to be understood that various changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention and without exceeding the scope of the claims and I therefore, do not wish to be limited to the particular embodiment illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification except in so far as such limitation is made necessary by the claims.

What I claim is:

1. An earring support and mounting comprising; a saddle adapted to seat in the concha of an ear at the tragus and antitragus thereof; an earring body portion connected to said saddle and adapted to bridge the lobe between the U-passage of the concha and the juncture of the lower portion of the lobe and the head, said earring body portion comprising two aligned end portions having adjacent ends spaced from each other, one of said aligned portions being connected to said saddle and the other of said aligned portions being remote from said saddle, means extending from the lower extremity of said other aligned portion adapted to be positioned behind the lobe of the ear to maintain said saddle in seated relation, said earring body portion also including an intermediate loop portion of deformable wire and of substantial length fixed to and connecting said adjacent ends of said aligned portions and being inherently adjustable while at the same time holding said aligned portions in adjusted relationship, whereby said intermediate loop portion may be adjusted to vary the distance between said adjacent ends of said aligned portions with the result that the overall longitudinal dimension of the earring body portion may be adjusted in accordance with the lobe side of a particular ear; and an ornament supporting means fixed to said earring body portion and adapted to support an ornament.

2. An earring support and mounting comprising; a saddle adapted to seat in the concha of a human ear; a body portion connected with said saddle between its ends and extending downwardly therefrom to a, sufficient extent to traverse the lobe of an ear from the bottom of the U-passage of the ear concha to the juncture of the lower portion of the lobe with the head, said body portion including a laterally extending substantially U-shaped loop incorporated therein between its ends, said loop being of substantial length, deformable and freely bendable to vary the overall length of said body portion, means extending from the lower extremity of said body portion adapted to be positioned behind the lobe of the ear to maintain said saddle in seated relation, and an ornament support on said body portion.

JUDITH McCAN N.

The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTfS Number Name Date 1,978,652 Shea Oct. 30, 1934 2,410,914 Williams Nov. 12, 1946 2,414,382 McCann Jan. 14, 1947 

